This is pretty standard Howard Dean/Jim Douglas rhetoric; Governor Shumlin is probably going to take a lot from their playbooks. He needs to steer a moderate course and hope the economy turns around. He has a pass in 2012 (Vermonters will never dump a one-term governor) but beyond that needs to be a Dean/Douglas-like fiscal conservative. The left will assail him on occasion, like they did Dean, but they’ll vote for him in the end as long as he continues to be the most palatable option. The problem is in 2014, when he could face a challenge from the far-left (Sen. Pollina) and a moderate Republican (Lt. Gov. Scott).